A rare win
There was a time, namely last season and the 5 seasons prior, when every match we played against Chelsea made my stomach retreat somewhere into my left leg, making me unsteady for 24 hours before kickoff. If we won, my stomach was restored and I could eat again. If we lost, which seemed to always be the case, my stomach took up lodging in my leg for a further 24 hours, prohibiting me from imbibing anything, particularly a sense of humour.
These days, playing Chelsea is a bit like revisiting a childhood haunt: very familiar, but old-looking and far from its prime. The reality is, we’ve had the best of Chelsea since Chica face-balled the second goal past Cech in the Community Shield. We should have beaten them in the league at Stamford Bridge, and we did beat them – comprehensively, I feel – in the Champion’s League.
Ah, but that familiar dread… And it was worse this time, because Chelsea had implausibly dragged themselves back into the title race and we were on the brinking of making first-class bottlers of ourselves, not something one ever wants to associate with United. The stomach in leg phenomenon began as soon as Aaron Ramsey slotted home the week before. Yes, visions of us throwing it all away sent my stomach into leg-hibernation mode. Despite our resounding win, I’m just now beginning to eat solids again, thanks to some careful coaxing by my 9 month-old daughter, who kindly made her applesauce available to her jelly-fish father.
But enough of this nonsense, and onto the match itself… What is there to say? We played a whole lot better than Chelsea did, and the result was even slightly disappointing, in a way that a likely-championship-clinching win can be. Chelsea barely deserved a goal (or the satisfaction of reintroducing anxiety into a game that had previously been all celebration), and we could have had at least 2 more.
A very familiar sight
Most importantly we showed what a great team we are, and have been at various points this season, despite the pundit’s opposite assertions. To beat Barcelona we will have to be that same tight, fluid team we were against Chelsea. We actually appeared to have walked straight from the Shalke game into the Chelsea one, and played just as well, even with the personnel changes.
Chelsea have a difficult summer ahead: Roman may well sack Ancelotti and they will have to start all over again. They certainly need to freshen up their squad. In fact, I may stick my neck out to suggest that the Chelsea that for 6 years routinely sent my food sack into my leg locker may be a spent force. All eyes on Daglish’s new Liverpool.
Man of the match Park. Just awesome.
Honourable mentions The rest of the team, but truly revelling in Tony V’s monstrously fantastic return from injury
Video link (MOTD)
